New England braces for snow after warm Christmas

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With one storm bringing several inches of snow to parts of Maine on Sunday, our eyes are also turning to a second storm set to impact New England on Tuesday.

An area of low pressure moving through the Great Lakes will spawn a new low near the coastline on Tuesday. That will spread snow into New England during the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday.

Photo credit: necn

By 7 a.m., expect snow to be falling from Connecticut all the way to about Portland, Maine. But as the snow moves in, a punch of warm air will follow. Some mixing will already be taking place near the South Coast.

Photo credit: necn

By 10 a.m., the warm air will likely flip things over to plain rain at the South Coast, with a wintry mix of rain, sleet, and freezing rain from Northern Connecticut and Rhode Island, into Western and Central Massachusetts, as well as the Boston area. Snow will continue north and east of Boston.

By 1 p.m., most of Southern New England will see plain rain, with pockets of wintry mix continuing in the Berkshires, parts of the Worcester Hills, as well as much of Vermont and New Hampshire. Snow continues in Maine.

Photo credit: necn

By 5 p.m., it looks like the snow will still be falling in Maine, while Eastern Vermont and Northern New Hampshire continue to deal with a wintry mix. Rain is likely elsewhere.

Based on that timeline, it's no surprise that the morning commute will be the most troublesome. Snow will be changing to a wintry mix and rain, creating sloppy and slow conditions.

Snowfall will be least impressive where snow changes to rain first. That means much of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Southeastern Massachusetts is likely to just see a dusting to a slushy inch or two of snow.

Around Boston, also expect a slushy inch or two of snow. Totals will increase to 2-4" north and west of the city, with some totals on either side of 6" in parts of Northwestern Massachusetts.

In much of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Western Maine totals will also fall on either side of 6", with the jackpot being in Maine. Northern and central areas of Maine stand to see closer to a foot.

Photo credit: necn

As usual, small changes in the storms track will result in forecast changes, so keep up with the latest projections.

In the meantime, make sure your snow stakes are in the ground, and the shovels and scrapers have been brought out of hiding!